


First Word

by lizznotliz



Category: Supergirl (TV 2015)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-17
Updated: 2017-02-17
Packaged: 2018-09-25 01:06:47
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,122
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9795476
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lizznotliz/pseuds/lizznotliz
Summary: Superman talks to Alex's parents about details - paperwork and custody and things Alex is told she doesn't need to worry about - while Alex watches Kara just stare at everything in the living room. When she tries to talk to Kara, Superman leans in through the kitchen door and reminds her that Kara doesn't speak English.





	

Kara's quiet.

That's the first thing Alex notices.

She has big eyes and twitchy fingers but she keeps her arms down at her sides, elbows tucked close to her ribs like she's afraid to touch anything. Superman talks to Alex's parents about details - paperwork and custody and things Alex is told she _doesn't need to worry about_ \- while Alex watches Kara just stare at everything in the living room. When she tries to talk to Kara, Superman leans in through the kitchen door and reminds her that Kara doesn't speak English.

"I'm sure she'll learn quick, though," he says. Alex wants to ask why he thinks that, but he's already ducked back into the kitchen.

Alex is trying not to think about what this is all going to mean: sharing a room and having a shadow at school and another chair at the dinner table. She's trying to think about anything other than the fact that her parents didn't even ask her if she wanted a little sister, if she was even okay with an alien staying in the house. Her parents tell her all the time how grown up she is, but apparently fourteen is still enough of a child for your opinion to be considered unimportant when it comes to adopting a freak.

 _Not a freak_ , Alex thinks. _She's not a freak._ If she says it enough times, she'll start to believe it. _She's my foster sister. She's my foster sister_.

"Kara?" She looks at Alex with her big, big eyes but she's still standing next to the wall, awkwardly hovering at the edge of the room. "Well, c'mon." Kara doesn't move. Alex sighs and grabs Kara's elbow, dragging her to the couch and pressing on her shoulder until she sits. "No English, huh?"

Alex expects something, anything. Even an acknowledgement. She's starting to wonder if Superman's cousin - her foster sister - is deaf. She reaches out and snaps her fingers right next to Kara's ear; the girl flinches away, eyes closed tight, and she wraps her hands around her ears.

"Okay, okay, sorry. I was just making sure." Alex shrugs. "Sor-ry," she repeats, slowly this time, like that might help Kara understand. "You don't have a clue what I'm saying do you? I can say anything I want right now and it's just going in one ear and out the other. I'm a giraffe. This house is a spaceship. The moon is made of cheese. I don't want you here."

Kara doesn't react, just like Alex knew she wouldn't. Her pulse jumps like she's afraid her parents heard the last sentence, but no one comes out of the kitchen. Alex knows it's mean, knows it's unfair since it's not like Kara asked to come live with them, but there is a part of Alex that felt good when she said it.

"I don't want you here," Alex repeats and her stomach flips, her heart at war with her head, "but I'll start teaching you English anyway. Maybe Superman will find you another family to live with, or you'll go live with him soon. Either way, you'll have to learn English eventually."

Alex walks around the room, pointing at objects and saying their names slowly and clearly. Couch. Painting. Piano. Surf board. Table. Telescope. Kara watches Alex move with steady, clear eyes and more than once Alex pauses to make sure she's blinking. _It would be just like an alien not to blink_ , she thinks. Rug. Book. Vase. Dissertation. _Okay, maybe that last one was a stretch_. Television. Window. Fireplace.

Kara moves, finally, raising one hand and pointing straight at Alex.

"What?" Kara gestures more emphatically, pointing at Alex's chest. "Me? Oh." Alex scratches the back of her neck, a little embarrassed to realize that introductions were forsaken in light of everything else. "I'm Alex. AL-EX," she says slowly, pointing to herself. "AL-EX." And then, pointing to Kara: "KA-RA. Alex. Kara. Get it?"

Kara lowers her hand, and then doesn't move again. She doesn't nod or repeat Alex's name, or even her own. Alex sighs, shaking her head, and walks toward the window. "Whatever. Nevermind."

The rest of the afternoon is a whirlwind, Superman coming and going, bringing back paperwork and clothes and sundries for Kara while Alex helps her father move furniture around in her room to make space for the twin bed Superman will bring by after dinner. Alex wants to ask why Kara has to stay in her room, wants to ask what's wrong with the guest bedroom in the attic, wants to ask why Kara has to stay with them at all, but every time her parents pass her in the hall, they kiss her on the forehead and thank her for being so understanding. Alex _doesn't_ understand, but she pretends anyway.

They send Alex to bed early that night, like she's a little kid with a bedtime, and when she tries to fight it her mother asks her to _please, Alexandra, just do as you're told, we're trying to make Kara comfortable tonight_. So Alex changes into her pajamas and watches Kara climb into her new bed, still dressed in the white nightgown she arrived in.

"Superman bought you pajamas, y'know," Alex says, plucking at her own oversized t-shirt. "Pa-ja-mas." Kara slides under the covers and rolls over, her back to Alex. "Fine. Suit yourself."

Alex crawls into her own bed and marvels at how different everything feels. Her room doesn't even feel like her room anymore; what a difference it can make, shifting a bed over a few feet. It feels just strange enough that Alex can't get comfortable, can't relax. She tosses and turns for a while, staring up at the glow-in-the-dark stars on the ceiling and wondering if Kara thinks she's immature for still keeping them up there.

"Alex."

She thinks she's imagined it at first. But then.

"Alex."

Alex rolls over and there's Kara, staring at her from her own bed with the covers pulled up to her chin. Slowly, Kara's hand sneaks out from under the blanket to point at herself. "Kara," she whispers, then points at Alex. "Alex."

"That's me."

"Alex."

"Yeah, you got it."

"Alex."

"Okay, that's enough," Alex huffs, the momentary excitement giving way to annoyance. "Goodnight, Kara," she says and rolls over again, putting her back to her new little sister. It takes Alex a while to fall asleep, but she doesn't look over at Kara's bed again and eventually she hears Kara's breathing even out into sleep.

 

 

 

(Twelve years later, in the middle of a Kryptonian lesson at Kara's apartment, Winn will ask what was the first human word Kara learned when she came to Earth and Alex will proudly declare that it was her name.)


End file.
